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24 November 2009

I took a "8*" on the crossword puzzle yesterday and am well on my way to do so again today. To recall a phrase from a previous life, "This is not okay."

Johnathan Chait of the New Republic on health care, Mr. Obama and folks on both sides of the aisle:

On the inside cover of the last issue of The New Republic, the conservative American Future Fund (AFF) took out an advertisement helpfully warning moderate Democrats to abandon health care reform. The ad features head shots of numerous Democratic members of Congress who lost their seats in 1994. The headline reads, “THE LOSERS OF 1994 … THANKS TO HEALTH CARE!”I hesitate to impugn the intellectual integrity of any of the good folks who purchase space in this magazine in order to share their concerns about public policy. Yet I cannot help but wonder if AFF has truly proffered this advice in good faith. The ad calls health care reform a “Majority Killer.” Yet Democrats did not lose their seats in 1994 because they enacted health care reform. They failed to enact, or even vote on, health care reform. So it’s hard to see why this historical example recommends letting health care reform die an ignominious death as an attractive strategy for the majority party.